


Chosen

by Cumberbatch Critter (ivelostmyspectacles)



Series: Ignoct Week 2017 [9]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Character Death, Grief/Mourning, M/M, Post-Game(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-03
Updated: 2017-08-03
Packaged: 2018-12-10 15:21:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 813
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11694450
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ivelostmyspectacles/pseuds/Cumberbatch%20Critter
Summary: Noctis was destined to die.But Ignis was destined to protect the king, no matter the cost. Even at the expense of his life.Day Five of Ignoct Week! Prompt:Ignis manages to use the last of the magic in him to bring Noctis back from the dead when he finds him on the throne.





	Chosen

The breath whisks in so fast that it _hurts_. He jerks up and that sends a whole new round of pain through his body. His hand flies to the aching spot in the center of his torso and there is nothing. No blood, no injury, no additional pain. It’s a steady throb, just beneath the skin, but it doesn’t hurt any worse. It doesn’t seem to hurt as badly, either. Strange–

No, wait. He’s supposed to be dead. That was the price. Why is his alive? Why is–

“Sleeping on the job again, huh.”

“Gladio,” he croaks out, and then _focuses_. It’s difficult to, to look up from from wound in his stomach that he doesn’t have and focus in on the throne room. The throne room, and Gladiolus knelt next to him, and then Prompto, as Noctis continues to look further. “Prompto.” And then Ignis, leaning back against the throne. “Ignis.”

But there is something vaguely off. He can’t put his finger on it. He had been in the throne, but now he is on the ground. The pain is becoming less when he should be dead. “What happened?” He looks between Gladio and Prompto, knelt next to Ignis, and then his advisor, and then makes the circuit again. Their tears don’t look happy, and Noctis is missing something. _What_ …

Ignis’s head lolls; Prompto makes a choked noise and surges the few inches between them, and Noctis moves on instinct rather than waiting for answers. “What happened to him?” He has more important questions, now that he has watched Ignis’s eyes flutter and noticed the pallor of his skin. “Ignis, hey.”

“Majesty…”

Ignis smiles. It’s wrong. Noctis still doesn’t know why, but he takes Ignis’s face in his hands anyway. “Iggy. What’s wrong?”

“He, uh…” Prompto starts, and then stops, and then starts again. “He used the last of his magic… we all, we’re drained, we have nothing left, barely made it out of the battle but then they stopped coming…” He sucks in a sharp breath, and tears fall down his cheeks anew. “He used the last of his magic to bring you back, but we can’t… there’s nothing…”

Cold reality crashes down on him again. This time, it isn’t one he is sure he can stomach. “You did what?” he breathes, even though he heard, and his heart wrenches in his chest to prove it. “You…”

“… He’s just as bad as you,” Gladio says gruffly. “Did it anyway.”

“I am a member of… His Majesty’s Crownsguard–” Ignis coughs, and Noctis interrupts anyway.

“Oh, don’t.”

“It is the greatest honor…”

“ _Don’t!_ ” Noctis leans forward, presses into Ignis’s space and warmth. “Goddammit…” He tries not to tear up. He fails. “ _I’m_ your sacrifice,” he snaps, jerking his attention to the heavens. “I _was_ your sacrifice, not him! No one else is supposed to get hurt for me, and not– not–”

Not _him_. Ignis, burdened with so much over the course of this journey. The man who had had the most taken from him and continued to have it taken, the man who unerringly loved him and helped him through all of this– he wouldn’t have been able to go on if it hadn’t been for Ignis–

“Noct.”

He looks down at him.

“It’s okay.”

“It is _not_ okay.” His voice cracks. He tries desperately not to break down; he desperately needs to be strong in the face of this, just for awhile longer, but he isn’t sure he can. In fact, he knows that he _can’t_. “Ignis. God… _why_.”

“You did… the same… for us.” His eyelids keep closing. They take longer each time to reopen, and there is pain etched across his face.

He wants to shout _me!_ , wants to yell that that had been prophecy and not necessarily a decision that he would have made if he had the choice– and yet he knows full well that he _would_ have made that choice, if he had been able to make a decision. And really… he _had_. He could have let the world be consumed. He hadn’t. Ignis could have chosen to let _him_ be consumed. He hadn’t.

“God… _God_.” He slides his hands into Ignis’s hair and curls around him. “There has to be something… something we can do…”

“No…”

“Ignis– no, I’m sorry, I’m _so_ sorry…”

“… I’m not… Majesty… Noct.”

He briefly thinks that the price to pay for ending the Starscourge has nothing on this pain, and it increases tenfold when Ignis says nothing else, when he falls limp in his arms and he can hear Prompto crying somewhere over his shoulder and when his vision blurs for the burning in his own eyes.

He suspects that they will call this a victory, as they have accomplished what they have intended to, but if this is victory? It tastes like ashes on his tongue, and Noctis is choking.

**Author's Note:**

> Like nowhere in the prompt did it say anything about anyone dying and like, it's a happy ending prompt! Noctis is back! Yay~ except not, because I'm me xD This is where my mind immediately went


End file.
